Volendam-Tradional Dutch clothing

How many times have I been asked, Did you wear traditional Dutch clothing in Holland on a daily basis? The answer is no we don't as a rule. There is one place however, where it is possible to bump into someone wearing traditional clothing. Gary, Gert and myself are traveling to Volendam. I am on a mission to replace a photograph my mother gave away to my father many years ago. I know she has regretted this for many years. It is a photo of myself posing in Dutch traditional clothing as a child. It was a great picture and I set out to have another one taken, to give to my mother for mother's day. This means I need to go to Volendam. Volendam is a popular tourist attraction in the Netherlands. It is well-known for it's old fishing boats and the traditional Dutch clothing still worn by some local residents. The women's costume of Volendam, with it's high pointed bonnet, is one of the most recognizable of the Dutch traditional costumes, and is often featured on postcards and posters. Although there are believed to be fewer than 50 women now wearing the costume as part of their daily lives and most of these are elderly women, I am hopeful to bump into one of these people. However we end up having to visit the local museum to see some of the costumes, as none of these people, are in town when we get there. We have some lunch before I am of to my photo shoot. I hope mum will like this photo as I am no longer a child but an adult woman, and cannot bring back time. I pay and collect for the photo and we decide to have a good look around Volendam before returning to Gert's place.

My favourite place

There is yet another place I must visit in Holland. It is a tourist area located on Schouwen-Duiveland (the most northern Island of Zeeland). The place I am referring to is called Burgh-Haamstede. It is close to a 17 kilometres long beach. It is located in one of the sunniest locations of Holland. There is also a 300 hectare forest, where you can find some amazing flora and fauna. I remember searching for the many bramble bushes, picking as many brambles as possible and return home to make jam (Yummy). We walked many a trail here and quite a few of them lead to the beach. Here I have fond memories of walking along the beach with the wind in my face. Now if I am walking anywhere and the wind is hitting me in the face, I find my mind wandering back in time to this place. Of course we did some swimming here as well and enjoyed some birdwatching and looking for some suitable shells to make a shell necklace. We also enjoyed many a ride on horseback here. As you may all be aware, my cousins and I each owned our own ponies and all 3 ponies used to come holidaying with us. They were agisted at the local riding school "manege Lisiduna". The horse riding is excellent here. There are special riding trails through the forest and some leading to the beach. We would usually ride to the beach to let our ponies have a good gallop. I would sometimes choose the 2 hour forest ride for a more leisurely pace and just to enjoy the scenery. As a child I dreamed of living in this place. Buy a property (small Acreage) and have some chooks, dogs, cats, ponies and I am sure much more. We spend so much here in our holiday home, that after all these years I still call it place my favourite place.